Immediately upon entering the Fine Arts Center, students, faculty and guests are struck with three captivating fine art collections displayed on the walls of the Christine Price Gallery. 

The Senior Exhibiton 2024, comprised of work from senior artists Julie Griffith, Jorja McLeod and Matthew Stoddard, was assembled the weekend of Nov. 9 after months of planning, preparation and support from fine art professors Oliver Schemm and Phil Whitman to fulfill their Senior Exhibition graduation requirement.

“As we were putting up this show, people would come into the Fine Arts Center, and both students and faculty and visitors would literally stop in their tracks and be kind of taken aback by the scale of the work,” said Whitman. “That’s something that doesn’t always happen.”

Griffith, McLeod and Stoddard each have their own section of the gallery, which are simultaneously very different yet contain relationships and parallels with one another.

“All three of these seniors have different styles that I think work well together in this group show, but there is an energy and immediacy that is emanating from all the work that binds them together,” Schemm said. 

Stoddard said he is inspired by “decay and time” and explained how his interests have broadened over time, beginning with abstract and then to surrealism, cubism, and contemporary styles. He has many different mediums on display as well, ranging from painting to sculpture, printmaking and digital art. 

When discussing his multi-media 3D paintings, which include recycled materials such as Styrofoam, he explained that he “is very much into texture” and creating “ugly art.”

“[It’s about] Finding the beauty in old things, discarded things. Decay. Stuff that people have forgotten, and I kind of relate that to people who are downtrodden in society. Like the homeless, people struggling with drug use and stuff like that. People that society sort of ignores and kind of hides and wants to put away.”

 Stoddard is grateful to Whitman and Schemm for teaching him new techniques, especially with creating 3D art, and said group critiques and collaboration during classes has been “incredibly valuable.” 

Griffith noted how the “organic feel” of Stoddard’s work is similar to her own and went indepth about her display entitled “Sea Level,” also containing her “Surfer Series.”

She revealed that the “Surfer Series,” a colorful, mixed media body of work spanning the larger of her two wall spaces, originated while at the beach with her daughter. 

“Three years ago, I went to the ocean with my daughter for the first time in the spring, and I saw this gentleman out on a surfboard waiting for a wave, and he was like the only one in the water because it was so cold. And it really struck me how detached he was from everything going on, all the craziness in the world. He was only just waiting for the wave,” she said. 

Griffith immediately went home and drew the man from memory, thus originating a puzzle of imaginative scenes and characters that are “up for interpretation.”

“Sea Level” on the other hand, is mostly comprised of on-site portraits of her friends and family, tying in a sense of reality. 

“There was something about the surfer series that was really pretty and took a ton more time to apply the layers of paint and everything, but something was missing. But when I put them next to the portraits of my family, which are often really quickly done…they seem really meaningful compared to the surfer series.” 

She said that learning to draw on site has been a “game changer,” and talked about the business skills she has learned at Castleton including portfolios and artists CVs they each made for the exhibit. 

McLeod created a unique overlap with Griffith by including a portrait of her in her collection themed after social issues and mental illnesses. 

“I’m really excited to be able to show all my work at once. Some people have seen a few of these pieces, but for the most part I’ve kept them kind of hidden away. They are very personal, and they needed to be shown together,” she said.

McLeod delves into a range of difficult subjects through her work, including depression, grief, body dysmorphia and loneliness. But she offers hope through specific pieces as well. 

One of her favorite paintings is titled, “Look at Me,” which depicts lines representing stimulus overload and phrases often said to those with autism. Another, “Uncertainty,” is a self-portrait surrounded by hurtful things said to her personally.

McLeod shared that a specific goal of her work is to not be hyper-realistic.

“I still want it to look like a painting and not a photograph,” she said. 

She named the Woolridge art house and Whitman and Schemm’s honest feedback as two driving factors in her artistic development. 

“They’re always hard on us, and they always push us to do our best. If something’s not right with the artwork, they will tell you straight up about it…I appreciate that,” she said. 

Schemm and Whitman expressed great pride in the exhibit and these students’ growth throughout their time at Castleton. 

“It has been a joy to work with these student-artists over the years, watching them find their artistic voice. Seeing them have stylistic breakthroughs and frustrations overcome. Mainly it’s watching them evolve to find their themes and visual vocabulary and building a body of work they are proud of,” said Schemm. 

“We’re always proud of our senior shows, but this one is really exemplary,” added Whitman. 

On Sunday, Dec. 8 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Stoddard, Griffith, and McLeod will host a reception for the exhibit in the Christine Price Gallery with flashmob at 6:30. There will be music, refreshments, and a chance to answer questions about their artwork. They welcome all to attend!